The basic problem is with the original PC (as in 8086
) hardware, which was designed to use a couple of floopies (no HDD, no battery-backed clock, and before WinDoze was invented!) and to be switched on every day under DOS. DOS brought up a prompt asking you to enter time and date, and kept a reasonably accurate update throughout the day. (calculated by dividing the system clock by a fixed number which was "accurate enough" in those days)
Now that our computers are often switched on all the time, or at least the CMOS keeps the clock running all the time, we notice the errors that have always been present (a couple of minutes a week I think) and it mounts up over a long time period.
When I connect my GPS receiver (to download track/waypoint data) I have the chance to sync the PC with a sub-second accuracy clock. As mentioned above you can also use AtomTime or similar utility to sync with someone's atomic clock - or you can just put it correct to the BBC every day or three. depends on the accuracy that you need
Sorry, but if it's an error in the order of a minute or so every few days, it's a "legacy" (
lagacy?) problem that you have to "work around" with one of the solutions above - not a hardware problem with your particular PC
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What Goes Around . . . . .
. . often makes a better landing
[This message has been edited by ExSimGuy (edited 12 February 2001).]